The concept of farm tractors is well known in the art. There are farm tractors with rear wheel steering, front wheel steering, four wheel crab steering and four wheel coordinated steering. There are tractors with front wheel drive, rear wheel drive and four wheel drive. There are also many specialized tractors for use in production and harvesting of specialized crops. The present invention provides a tractor for use in farming of conventional crops such as oats, corn, soybeans and the like and, more specifically, a tractor for use with intercropping equipment that may be operated on slopes or side hills.
Briefly, intercropping involves the precise planting of a second crop in the center of the relative narrow spaces between the rows of a standing crop. Such a system of intercropping is more fully shown and described in my copending application U.S. Ser. No. 519,314, filed Aug. 1, 1983, and entitled "Soil Conservation Intercropping". Generally, if the planted area is on a slope, it is extremely difficult for the tractor and the wide interplanter implement to accurately follow the spaces between the rows of standing grain. The difficulty in driving a tractor on a side hill is that the tractor has a tendency to slip sideways down the hill as it works the field. Most farming is done on the contour of the slope of the field or perpendicular to the fall-line of the hill as a soil conservation practice.
If the implement is rear mounted, the tractor is unbalanced and the rear mounted implement causes the tractor to crab even more on side hills. In order to traverse a side hill on the contour of the slope one must turn the tractor wheels at a slight angle to the tractor body to maintain a straight tractor heading. Thus, as the tractor body traverses along a side hill, the tractor proceeds along a straight path with the tractor body located at a slight angle with respect to the path of the tractor. This angle is referred to as the crab angle.
In the first crop planting the lack of alignment between the axis of the tractor body and the line of the tractor's path can increase or decrease the width of the rows planted depending upon the degree of crab-tracking of the tractor. However, it is more difficult to plant a second crop in the center of the spaces between the rows of the first planted standing crop located on side hills or slopes with conventional rear mounted equipment, more particularly when using the wise swath equipment when intercropping. In addition, the displacement of the tractor wheels from the straight path produces a displacement in conjunction with the crab angle rotation which makes it difficult for a tractor with wide equipment mounted thereon to accurately follow the center of the narrow spaces between the rows of standing crops. Therefore when implements are mounted on the rear of a tractor, the problem is compounded. The present invention provides a tractor that can more accurately follow the centers of the narrow spaces between the rows of standing grain when interplanting.
The present invention provides an improvement by providing a tractor mounted, hydraulically operated, ASAE categoried three point hitch located in the center of the tractor, a toolbar and implement mounted thereon and four wheel crab steering which coact to minimize the crab angle effect. The high center frame allows clearance for the three point hitch mounted equipment. Another tractor mounted hydraulically operated ASAE categoried three point hitch is mounted at the rear of the tractor. This provides for a dual farming operation in one pass. For example, the central mounted three point hitch implement could till the soil and the rear three point hitch mounted equipment could then plant the tilled area. Both front and rear wheels can be steered independently to minimize the lack of alignment of the tractor body with the tractors direction of travel. The weight of the equipment is distributed equally on all four wheels of the tractor offering better steering and soil compaction is only half that of the conventional tractor.